KARACHI: The federal government has issued special permits to King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al-Khalifa and six other members of the royal family to hunt the internationally protected Houbara bustards during the hunting season 2020-21, it is learnt here reliably.

According to sources, others in the elite list of hunters include the king’s uncle, interior minister, commander-in-chief of defence forces, king’s defence adviser and a couple of his cousins.

The sources said that the hunting permits were person -specific and the hunting could be carried out for 10 days only with the bag limit being 100 bustards.

The sources said that the special hunting permits issued by the foreign ministry’s deputy chief of protocol (P&I) were delivered to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain in Islamabad so that these could be sent to the hunters belonging to the tiny island country in the Gulf.

The king and members of his family will hunt the internationally protected birds

The permits mentioned the names of the hunters and the areas allocated to them.

King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al-Khalifa can hunt in Jamshoro district of Sindh, including tehsils of Thano Bula Khan, Kotri, Manjhand and Sehwan.

The king’s uncle and senior member of the ruling family, Sheikh Ebrahim bin Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa, can hunt in tehsil Shah Bander of Sujawal district in Sindh.

The interior minister and the king’s cousin, Lt Gen Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa, has been allocated Jaffarabad district in Balochistan and Naushehro Feroz district in Sindh for hunting.

Commander-in-chief of the Bahrain Defence Force Field Marshal Sheikh Khalifa bin Ahmad Al-Khalifa has been allotted tehsil Toisar of Musakhel district in Balochistan.

The king’s adviser on defence affairs, Sheikh Abdullah bin Salman Al-Khalifa, has been allocated tehsil Jati of Sujawal district in Sindh.

King’s cousin Sheikh Ahmed bin Ali Al-Khalifa has been allocated Hyderabad district and Malir district (excluding Malir Cantonment and Dhabeji areas) in Sindh.

King’s another cousin Sheikh Khalid bin Rashid bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa has been allotted Tando Mohammad Khan district in Sindh.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2020